Shamisen

Shamisen, Japanese plucked lute (see Musical Instruments: Plucked and Bowed Lutes), originally used by street singers and by geishas, a traditional class of professional female musicians in Japan. The shamisen has a small rectangular body with rounded sides, a long, slender neck without frets (small strips which mark string positions), and three silk or nylon strings tuned in intervals of fourths or fifths by means of ivory pegs. Both sides of the body are traditionally covered in catskin and the instrument is played with a large axe-shaped plectrum, or pick. The shamisen, constructed in sections so that it can be taken apart for transport, was traditionally used to accompany storytelling, including the Japanese puppet theater. It was also used for long lyrical songs (nagauta) which formed part of 19th-century kabuki dramas (see Japanese Drama: Puppet and Kabuki Theater). In the 19th century, the shamisen also began to be used as a concert instrument, with composers writing for both the solo shamisen and for ensembles of traditional Japanese instruments which include it.